This invention relates generally to a door handle for an automotive vehicle, and more particularly to a mechanism for transmitting the handle's pivoting motion to a door latch.
Generally the outside door handle of a motor vehicle includes a handle lever stop, which limits the range through which the door handle pivots. The handle lever stop is conventionally located inboard, i.e., on the interior surface of the door. This feature causes the distance from the window glass to the outer surface of the door panel to be about 55 mm. It is desirable to reduce the depth of the outside door handle sufficiently to enable the glass to outer panel dimension to be reduced to about 35 mm.
Relocating the handle lever stop outboard to the cap reduces handle depth, but requires another method of transferring the opening energy from the handle to the door latch. Installing the handle assembly to the vehicle with a loose cable hanging from it is unacceptable.
A need exists in the industry for an outside door handle that allows the outer door panel to be packaged closer to the window glass in order to enhance styling of the vehicle's body side.